This team. Things went from horrendous to atrocious on Thursday, when the Seattle Kraken—who held a one-goal lead entering the third period for the second straight game—fumbled it away again, suffering their fourth straight loss and 10th in 11 games (1-9-1).
Against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, you knew the 3-2 lead going into the third was anything but safe. In this one, against a bad Flames team that had lost two of its previous three, it felt like the Kraken were finally going to find a way to close out a victory and generate some semblance of positive vibes within the group.
Instead, they took two straight penalties in the third period (five total in the game), allowed a season-high 46 total shots through to Joey Daccord, and once again let a winnable game slip away in a 4-2 loss.
With the defeat, the Kraken are now on their second consecutive named losing streak—Losing Streak Cynthia—which makes landfall right on the heels of the catastrophic Losing Streak Camille.
Here are Three Takeaways from yet another Kraken loss.
Takeaway #1: A third-period meltdown
Although the Flames haven’t had great results this season, they do tend to be a high shot-volume team, averaging 29.5 shots per game, sixth-most in the NHL. On this night, they threw everything at Daccord, who was excellent and gave Seattle a chance to win despite being outshot exactly 2-1 (46-23).
Daccord’s teammates put him in a brutal position late, forcing him to kill two straight penalties in a high-volume game. Defensive-zone time is taxing on a goalie regardless of shot count, and back-to-back penalty kills under those conditions are especially punishing. Eventually, Calgary broke through.
Nazem Kadri tied the game on a power-play one-timer at 10:04 of the third, and Matt Coronato scored the winner just 65 seconds later.
The Kraken had a 3-on-2 brewing, with Adam Larsson jumping into the play. Eeli Tolvanen tried to hit Larsson at the blue line, but the pass was picked off and the play reversed. Tolvanen and Larsson collided trying to recover, and Rasmus Andersson hit Coronato in stride at the Seattle line. At full speed, Coronato burned around a flat-footed Vince Dunn and sniped it over Daccord’s left shoulder.
…AAAAAaaaaaand 3-2 Flames.
Matt Coronato with a snipe. Jonathan Huberdeau gets his 800th point.
“More detail. More detail in certain areas that are game changers,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We cannot turn the puck over entering the blue line on their third goal. It just can’t happen. And we keep doing these things over and over again, and it’s getting old, and we’ve got to figure this out.”
Daccord may have wanted that last goal back—it was unscreened and from an angle—but you can’t hang this one on him. He finished with a .933 save percentage and deserved a better outcome.
Kaapo Kakko offered an interesting perspective afterward, saying he thinks the team is “scared” to make plays when protecting a one-goal lead.
Lambert didn’t like that idea one bit. “I think that’s ridiculous,” Lambert scoffed. “I think we needed to get on the forecheck. We talked about staying on our toes, so if that’s what’s going on, then it has to change.”
Takeaway #2: Still liking the Nyman/Wright/Kakko line
I touched on this after the last game as well, but the Jani Nyman, Shane Wright, and Kakko line continues to impress. For a team desperate for offense and chemistry, it’s refreshing to see a trio consistently creating something.
After Wright scored against Colorado on Tuesday, Kakko followed up with a power-play goal in this game, with both of his regular linemates on the ice as part of the unit.
Nyman nearly lost the puck along the wall just inside the blue line but recovered it and fed Ryker Evans rolling downhill. Kakko timed his drive perfectly from the corner, presenting his stick as Evans threaded a shot-pass under MacKenzie Weegar’s stick and onto Kakko’s tape for an easy deflection into the net.
🎶 HEYYYYY KAAPO KAKKO! 🎶 🚨
Shot-pass by Ryker Evans, perfect redirection by Kakko. Power-play goal.
It was a beautiful sequence, and another sign that this line is building something.
HOWEVER…
Takeaway #3: Why Shane Wright doesn’t get as much usage as Chandler Stephenson
While that line contributed Seattle’s second goal, they were also on the ice for the Flames’ first. Mikael Backlund’s tying goal at 10:20 of the second period—a bit of a doinker—came immediately off a defensive-zone face-off.
Sound Of Hockey’s Blaiz Grubic wrote Thursday about Wright’s development and noted that one reason he doesn’t get as much ice time as Chandler Stephenson (who has four goals and three assists in his last seven games and scored a beauty in this one) is Lane Lambert’s lack of trust in Wright on defensive-zone draws. Wright starts just 5.6 percent of his shifts in Seattle’s end.
Flames answer. Shane Wright had Mikael Backlund tied up, but it glanced off a skate.
This is why defensive-zone starts matter, and why Lane Lambert leans on Stephenson so heavily for these draws.
Backlund’s goal is a clear example of why. Wright stayed with Backlund and tied up his stick reasonably well, but the clean face-off loss put Seattle on the back foot immediately, and Backlund ultimately got a fortunate bounce. Worth noting, Wright didn’t get the defensive-zone start by choice; Seattle had previously iced the puck, meaning they weren’t allowed to change lines.
Wright’s usage frustrates fans because everyone wants to see him continue to grow and take on more responsibility. But these are the details Lambert keeps referencing. To earn trust and move up the lineup, Wright needs to improve in these areas. He likely will over time, and when that happens, the minutes will follow—but this is important context in the meantime.
I’m sure you will all react very calmly and respectfully to this take in the comment section. (Seriously, please be nice to each other. It’s been a little ugly in there lately.)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find something to break.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
What happened on the ice Tuesday should have been the story. It was a hard-fought, entertaining battle in which the underdog and heavily slumping Seattle Kraken went toe to toe with the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche, only to be undone by the superstar prowess of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
Instead, what transpired after the game quickly overtook the narrative. In the hours following and throughout Wednesday, media members from across North America and beyond began taking notice of how the post-game press conference had unfolded.
Seattle coach Lane Lambert spent about a minute on stage, during which Bob Condor, editor in chief of the Kraken’s official website, was the only attendee permitted to ask questions.
“The bottom line was it wasn’t the right call at all, and it was a mistake and would never happen again and won’t happen again,” a member of the Kraken’s communications department said.
Before Lambert had entered the media room, Condor spoke with several reporters in attendance and asked which questions they wanted him to ask, noting that he had been informed by other team staffers that he would ask all of the questions.
From Sound Of Hockey’s perspective, it was difficult in the moment to believe that this was truly how things would proceed. But when Lambert arrived, Condor retained the microphone for the entirety of the coach’s one-minute press conference, asked five rapid-fire questions that were met with notably brief responses, and then a Kraken public relations representative ended the availability without offering the microphone to other reporters in the room.
“Last night after the game, the questions that were posed to Lane during the press conference were, I guess you want to call it, funneled through Bob, who writes for the Kraken,” the team representative said. “And other reporters weren’t given the chance to ask questions in that moment, as [Sound Of Hockey] personally experienced.”
This is accurate. Sound Of Hockey was asked by Condor for questions, but for those unfamiliar with standard media procedures, this is not how post-game press conferences are typically conducted. It is a problematic approach for a professional sports organization that relies on an independent media corps to provide access, insight, and accountability.
“I feel bad for Bob, too, because we put him in a position where he’s… all I have to say, obviously, is it’s a tough position for Bob to be put in.”
Even though Condor—who was not involved in the decision but was instructed to ask all questions—solicited input from other reporters and relayed their questions, the optics of the arrangement were poor, particularly given the timing. Conducting the press conference this way created the appearance that an NHL head coach was avoiding questions from independent reporters after his team suffered its ninth loss in 10 games.
The perception of a coach hiding from the media does not fully reflect what happened, though. According to the Kraken communications department, the decision was made independently by them, and the organization maintains that Lambert was unaware of the altered plan for the availability. “Support for Lane was the basis of it, but it wasn’t because we didn’t want to give others a chance [to ask questions].”
Since then, the Kraken PR staff has engaged in damage control, reaching out to reporters who were present—and others who were not present but who contacted the team for an explanation—to offer apologies and provide context for the decision.
“It doesn’t reflect what we’re trying to do in Seattle as a new team and trying to make inroads with a new market and build relationships with media,” the team employee said. “It doesn’t represent what we’re all about, and so we’ve spent the day… we own the decision, obviously. And we’ve all made decisions we’d wish we’d done differently, and that was definitely one of them. And we spent much of last night and today connecting with— hopefully we’ve reached all the reporters who were in the room last night… There’s a long list of reasons why that just wasn’t the right call.”
It is clear the Kraken communications department is taking the misstep seriously and is remorseful for how the situation was handled.
“It’s not who we are as a communications team.”
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
The Seattle Kraken gave it their all against the vaunted Colorado Avalanche and nearly came away with an unlikely victory. But in the end, Colorado’s stars proved to be too much and handed the Kraken their ninth loss in 10 games.
“I thought we played hard, like we have been,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We just can’t find a way to get it over the finish line.”
Here are Three Takeaways after a 5-3 Kraken loss to the Avalanche.
Takeaway #1: Every chance to win it
If you put this game in a vacuum and forget about the fact that the Kraken have gone 1-8-1 since Nov. 23, you’d feel great about their performance. Ostensibly, they played one of their best games of the season, going toe to toe with a team that came in with just TWO regulation losses through 31 games.
In fact, the Kraken had every chance to win this one, taking a 3-2 lead after Chandler Stephenson scored his second power-play goal in as many games at 19:24 of the second period to send Seattle into the third in the driver’s seat.
STEVIE DOES IT! 🚨
His seam pass, intended for Matty Beniers, hits Brent Burns' skate and caroms through Blackwood. #SeaKraken taking a 3-2 lead into the 3rd period. pic.twitter.com/CqT7yVrJ4R
But Nathan MacKinnon did Nathan MacKinnon things, racking up two goals (one an empty-netter) and an assist in the third period to help Colorado rally back for its NHL-leading 24th win of the season.
The Avalanche converted on essentially the same play twice in a six-minute span. Both times, Cale Makar walked across the top of the zone from left to right, then passed it back across to MacKinnon in the left circle. On the first such look, MacKinnon one-timed it off Adam Larsson and in to tie the game 3-3 at 2:40 of the third.
The Kraken then got a power play AND a penalty shot after Josh Manson put his hand over the puck in the crease. They failed to convert on the power play, and Jordan Eberle hit the post on the penalty shot.
Just 26 seconds later, Vince Dunn went to the box for tripping, and the Avs struck again on the Makar-to-MacKinnon connection. This time, the puck got a friendly bounce off the end wall for Brock Nelson to bang it home.
4-3 Avs. Brock Nelson gets a good bounce after they run the exact same play that MacKinnon scored on six minutes earlier. PPG. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/Wl4Pibw756
“We made a big mistake at the end on the last kill,” Lambert said, during his very strange media availability (more on that in Takeaway 3). “We can’t make that. The power play scored for us, so, aside from the goal we gave up, which was a critical situation and a critical error, [special teams] were fine, but again, not good enough. Didn’t get the job done.”
I believe the “critical error” Lambert was referring to was Ben Meyers shading from the left side over to the right and leaving that side unprotected. Meyers also got his pocket picked by MacKinnon earlier in the sequence, which eventually led to MacKinnon’s first goal.
Takeaway #2: Nyman / Wright / Kakko
Lambert shuffled up his lines for this one, making the “top line” Eeli Tolvanen, Chandler Stephenson, and Freddy Gaudreau. That was clearly a matchup play, hoping to get three players he trusts defensively out against MacKinnon as much as possible.
He also gave Shane Wright another look between the two big Finns, Jani Nyman and Kaapo Kakko. All three looked effective against an outstanding team and were rewarded with a good, hard-working goal at 3:03 of the second period.
WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️ 🚨
This Nyman/Wright/Kakko line has been solid tonight, and they get rewarded.
Wright hits Nyman in the 🍑 with his shot, Jani hits the post with the rebound, then Shane Wright cleans it up.
That’s a trio I’d like to see stick together and try to develop some chemistry. It’s high time for all three to get going, and they seem to work well together.
Takeaway #3: A strange post-game experience
The post-game experience after this one was quite bizarre, with media availability handled in an especially peculiar way. Considering that—even though the Kraken took yet another ‘L’—they played a great game, players and coaches shouldn’t have felt embarrassed or hesitant to face the media, which is generally quite fair to them in this city.
But they received extra protection on this night in a way I’ve never seen before in my five years of closely covering the organization, with Lane Lambert only fielding a few questions from a team employee and none from reporters.
To set the scene and give you a peek behind the curtain, I’ll speak personally. In addition to my Sound Of Hockey duties, I’m also the local Seattle correspondent for NHL.com. That means wearing a lot of hats on home game nights: writing the neutral game story for NHL.com on a deadline, running the Sound Of Hockey Twitter (but don’t tell anyone it’s me), and trying to ask meaningful questions of players and coaches in post-game scrums so I can complete the NHL.com article and eventually Three Takeaways here on Sound Of Hockey… dot com.
After all that, I drive home, usually around midnight, and start actually writing Three Takeaways, which takes at least an hour. If all goes well, I’m asleep by 2 a.m.
That’s all to say that I—and others in the local media corps—invest a lot into covering the Kraken and filling gaps in a sports landscape dominated by the Seahawks and Mariners. The Kraken need us.
One challenge of the NHL.com role is that I’m expected to tell the story from the perspective of the winning team, with commentary from the losing team mixed in. While I’d prefer to always go to the Kraken dressing room, a stretch like this one means I’ve been visiting the opposing locker room more often than not. Even so, I typically still make it to Lane Lambert’s press conference, where I ask at least one question. (I’d prefer to ask more, but I understand the dynamics of a shared presser and can’t always hog the mic.)
On this particular night, I went to the Avalanche dressing room, where players were understandably celebratory after the comeback win. I asked Mackenzie Blackwood what it’s like playing behind Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar just as MacKinnon walked back in from his TNT interview. Somewhat jokingly—but very much on the record—Blackwood said, “He’s fucking nasty!” while nodding toward MacKinnon. MacKinnon shouted back, “Next question!”
Blackwood then doubled down: “No, those guys are fucking unbelievable leaders, and I love to watch those guys on a nightly basis.” That unnecessary on-mic cursing got a chuckle from the room.
After that, I asked Colorado coach Jared Bednar a few questions in the hallway outside the Avalanche dressing room and then headed to the Kraken media room, where Lambert had not yet arrived. When Lambert did come in, the microphone—normally passed from reporter to reporter—was already in the hands of a Kraken employee, who asked a short series of questions. Lambert gave brief answers, and the Kraken PR representative then cut off the presser without allowing anyone else in the room to ask a question.
It was peculiar behavior and a bad look for a team desperately trying to maintain interest in a crowded sports market. I included the background on my night not to complain (I absolutely love doing all this; otherwise, I wouldn’t do it), but to illustrate how much effort goes into covering a team that has lost nine of its last 10 games and frankly isn’t earning much positive attention right now.
All that said, following the availability, it was communicated that this approach was a one-off decision and would not be repeated.
The Kraken had their jump back in this game after looking sluggish on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres. Many on the team have been sick, with Mason Marchment missing that game, and then Kaapo Kakko and Vince Dunn missing practice on Monday. All three were back in the lineup, making things feel like Seattle was inching in the right direction in terms of its many health- and injury-related issues.
But early in the third period, Mason Marchment found himself throwing gloved fists with Josh Manson.
FISTICUFFS! 🥊
Mason Marchment gets into with Josh Manson, and the two start throwing massive punches with gloves on, then all hell breaks loose.
Chaos ensued, and Brandon Montour ended up on the ice, punching Brent Burns. Montour left the game after this and did not return. Lambert did not give an update on his status.
Needless to say, the Kraken simply cannot survive adding Brandon Montour to their injured list.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Last week I asked whether the Seattle Kraken had hit bottom. Technically, they squeaked out a win against the Los Angeles Kings last Wednesday, but that brief moment of optimism didn’t last. Since then, they’ve dropped two straight, including an underwhelming 3–1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. It’s ugly right now, and game by game, the Kraken are playing themselves toward irrelevancy.
Goals are still hard to come by
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Kraken are struggling to score. Over their last five games, they’re shooting an abysmal 7.6 percent. A modest bump up to their season average of 9.7 percent would have produced roughly three additional goals over that stretch. Given that most of those games were essentially one-goal affairs, those three goals could have swung multiple results.
Things got even tougher when the Kraken lost their leading scorer, Jared McCann, for several weeks during Wednesday’s game against the Kings. That injury came just six games since he returned from a five-week absence. Seattle managed to tread water during McCann’s earlier absence, but that was with Jaden Schwartz in the lineup. Schwartz has now been out for three weeks himself, and suddenly the margin for error has disappeared.
Injuries are part of the game, and the Kraken have certainly had their share this season. The challenge for a team like Seattle is organizational depth. The AHL roster is loaded with prospects, but there aren’t many players down there who are ready to step in and handle even limited NHL minutes right now. When multiple top-six forwards are missing at the same time, the cracks become pretty obvious.
Objective of the 2025–26 season
No one picked Seattle as a playoff team entering the season. ESPN and The Athletic both projected the Kraken to finish 29th overall. Here at Sound Of Hockey, we’ve been consistent that a reasonable expectation was simply to play meaningful games in March.
The Kraken’s solid start made that goal feel very attainable. Then the losses piled up, the injuries got worse, and suddenly the season has been in a spiral. And yet, despite how bleak things feel, Seattle is still just five points out of the final playoff spot. As bad as it’s been, they’re technically still on pace to be playing those meaningful games in March.
Given the current state of the roster, the path forward is pretty clear. If the Kraken can hover around .500 while McCann and Schwartz are sidelined over the next few weeks, they’ll give themselves a fighting chance once the lineup starts to stabilize.
Opportunities
With Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann out, and Berkly Catton also working his way back from injury, several players are getting extended looks and increased responsibility. There are three players in particular who need to elevate their game.
Shane Wright – I wouldn’t say Wright’s game has regressed since last season, but he hasn’t looked nearly as dangerous as he did down the stretch last year. He has five goals in 30 games and is shooting 11.4 percent, a sharp drop from last season’s 25.9 percent. There’s been plenty of fan frustration about his ice time, but much of that is tied to the coaching staff’s trust in him: he’s not on the top power-play unit and continues to get protected starts with limited defensive-zone usage. These injuries should open the door for more responsibility. Now it’s on Wright to take advantage and raise his game to the level everyone expects.
Kaapo Kakko – Kakko’s production is largely explained by injury, and I’m willing to give him some leeway there. Coming back from two separate injuries is no small thing. That said, the Kraken badly need scoring from the wing, and Kakko has been back for seven games without looking like much of a threat. The hope is that more time and opportunity help him turn the corner over the next few weeks. Worth noting, he missed Monday’s practice with an illness.
Freddy Gaudreau – Like Kakko, Gaudreau’s offensive numbers are down compared to last season, largely due to injury. I’ve liked his game lately, though, especially his two-way play. He looks more comfortable and always makes the right decision. It feels like he’s starting to find his stride with the Kraken. If a few more pucks start going in for him, that would go a long way toward stabilizing this team right now.
Other musings
The Kraken have been generating more shot attempts lately, though some of that can likely be attributed to playing from behind more often. Shot volume is nice, but context still matters, and chasing games isn’t exactly a sustainable offensive strategy.
The Kraken are now 3-8-4 when allowing the first goal this season. Playing from behind continues to be a recipe for long nights.
Seattle had 2:22 of 5-on-3 ice time over the past week and failed to convert. They are now one of just two teams this season with more than five total minutes of 5-on-3 time without a single goal, joining Montreal in that unenviable category. Meanwhile, opponents are a perfect 2-for-2 on 5-on-3 chances against the Kraken.
By the definition, this is a face-off goal, yet who won this face-off?
Mason Marchment’s two-goal performance against Utah marked the seventh time a Kraken player has recorded a multi-goal game this season. That total is tied for 27th in the league, which says a lot about how rarely Seattle is getting game-breaking performances from individual players.
Jacob Melanson was recalled on Saturday and was immediately pressed into action Sunday due to illness elsewhere in the lineup. I’ve always liked his game, and while this might be a brief look, I still think he has the makeup of a regular NHL player down the road.
Goal of the week
Seattle Kraken sixth-round pick from the 2022 draft, Barrett Hall, scored this game-winning goal in the final minutes of St. Cloud’s 4–3 win over sixth-ranked Denver.
Tyson Jugnauth (CVF/SEA) – “Juggy” had two goals and two assists in the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ 7–4 win over the Calgary Wranglers on Saturday. It was one of those nights where he was involved in everything.
Kraken goaltenders – Over four games this week, Kraken goalies posted a .914 save percentage and saved 2.2 goals above expected. They’re doing their part, and then some.
Marcus Johansson (MIN) – Former Kraken forward “JoJo” had three goals and three assists in four games this week, including a nice game-winning goal against Seattle. Of course.
The week ahead
They had to come to town eventually, and now they’re here. The 23-2-7 Colorado Avalanche visit Seattle on Tuesday at perhaps the worst possible time. Colorado leads the league at 4.0 goals per game, while the Kraken sit last at 2.47. Anything can happen in the NHL, but on paper this one is pretty terrifying.
After Colorado, Seattle heads out to Calgary on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday. At first glance, those might look like opportunities to grab some points, but the Flames have won four of their last five games, and the Sharks have taken three of their last four. There are no easy games in this league, and given how the Kraken are currently playing, these will all be tough.
Until further notice, the goal for the week should be simple: grab 50 percent of the available points. If the Kraken can hang around a .500 points percentage while waiting for McCann and Schwartz to return, they at least keep themselves in the bubble conversation. Even then, this team is going to need a real run to become relevant again, and that likely won’t happen until those pieces are back in the lineup.
Things are getting dire, folks. You could sense it from the moment you walked into Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, where a big swath of fans arrived very late after the Seattle Seahawks narrowly defeated Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts. And when they did arrive, they didn’t have much reason to cheer. The Seattle Kraken dropped their eighth game out of their last nine (1-7-1) with a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
Of course, we’ve been here in years past, but this free fall does sting, especially given that the Kraken started their season so well and gave hope that they could be a playoff team for just the second time in their five-year history. Instead, the plummet toward the bottom of the standings continued Sunday.
After the game, I asked Chandler Stephenson, who scored Seattle’s only goal in the game, “What is the mood of the team right now?”
Sounding downtrodden, Stephenson gave a long and thoughtful answer to a relatively simple question.
“I mean, it’s tough. Obviously, it’s no fun losing. And yeah, obviously, we got a little bit of energy with the dads being here [for the recent dads and mentors trip], and it’s exciting having them here. I think it’s just… it’s a hard league. It’s hard to stay positive when things are going this way. But, I think that’s kind of the MO right now, is that [winning is] going to come. That’s kind of the hard thing is that you’re just waiting for it [to happen], and it seems like it’s kind of the same thing. The effort’s there, goalies are playing well, giving us a chance to win. Offense isn’t overly there, but the PK has been better, power play has been pretty good too as of late. So yeah, I think it’s just that everything needs to be going for us to win games right now, and we’re just going to go into the next one, and hopefully we can have some energy and have some juice and get something going here before Christmas.”
Worth noting: the next Kraken game is against the 23-2-7 Colorado Avalanche.
Anyway… here are Three Takeaways from a 3-1 Kraken loss to the Sabres.
Takeaway #1: Two bad mistakes
You generally have to score more than one goal in a game to win, but with the way things have gone for the Kraken this month, you also can’t afford to make mistakes. Seattle made two huge ones in this game, and both resulted in rush goals for Buffalo—something we almost never saw in the first (almost) two months of the season.
The first goal, which ended with a pretty give-and-go between Noah Ostman and Josh Norris at 17:09 of the first period, came off a 2-on-1 that started when Alex Tuch escaped a Jamie Oleksiak pinch and made a quick breakout pass to Ostman in the middle.
“Their first goal, our D stands in,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Our protocol is our forward has to back him up, and he doesn’t, so it’s a 2-on-1. Can’t do that. And it’s happening too often, and there’s no excuse for it. These players, the guys have to do the job that’s required.”
Sabres break the ice off a 2-on-1.
Beautiful passing play between Noah Ostlund and Josh Norris. Norris crashed hard into the end wall. Was able to get up and skate off, though.
In this case, Jacob Melanson (more on him in Takeaway #2) was the F1 on the forecheck, and Ben Meyers was the F2. That meant Tye Kartye was the high forward—and the one Lambert was clearly implicating. Kartye got caught flat-footed at the blue line, and Ostman had a ton of speed hitting the neutral zone. Kartye was so stationary, in fact, that Meyers—who was down at the offensive-zone face-off dot when the play started coming back the other way—ended up closer to catching the 2-on-1 rush than Kartye did.
The other non-empty-net goal, scored by Tage Thompson, came off an egregious turnover by Vince Dunn in the second period. Trying to clear the zone up the wall, Dunn had his pass knocked down by Tuch, suddenly turning it into a 3-on-1 that became a 2-on-0 in tight on Joey Daccord. Peyton Krebs slid it across to Thompson, who jammed it under Daccord’s pad for the 2-0 lead.
“Obviously, the second one was a costly turnover,” Lambert said. “Right now, we have to play the perfect game to give ourselves a chance to win. And there’s mistakes here and there that are reaching up and biting us.”
I asked Lambert whether these mistakes are happening more frequently than they were earlier in the season.
“That’s a good question. No, I think that it’s just biting us a little more now. It wasn’t like we were mistake free, certainly. But right now, it’s magnified, right? Because you’re not winning, and you’re having trouble scoring goals 5-on-5, so those little mistakes get magnified.”
Takeaway #2: Jacob Melanson was a silver lining
On a night when the veterans didn’t appear to have much juice, Jacob Melanson—who found out around 3 p.m. Sunday that he would be in the lineup for his second career NHL game, replacing a sick Mason Marchment—did exactly what you’d want. He was fast, physical, relentless on the forecheck, and looked like he belonged in a depth NHL role.
On his first shift, he dumped Rasmus Dahlin in the corner, then slammed Thompson into the end wall a few minutes later, doing everything he could to get under the skin of the Sabres throughout the night.
“The way I play, I play physically, bring energy, and the easiest way you get into it is get that first big hit, and I felt much better after that,” Melanson said. “Everyone’s been welcoming and happy to have me, and I thought tonight, I brought my energy, brought my physicality, and I’ll keep bringing that when the team needs it. And I feel like I can be a big part of that.”
The nastiness in Melanson’s game is an element the Kraken don’t really have, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with him moving forward. Though he played just 7:47, he brought a spark to an otherwise lifeless lineup. Could that earn him more time with the big club?
“I did like [his physical game],” Lambert said. “I thought it was exactly what we needed, and [he brought] some youthful energy, and certainly he finished his checks. I thought he played well.”
Takeaway #3: Something has to give
One day after a true blockbuster trade sent Quinn Hughes, one of the best defensemen in the NHL, to the Minnesota Wild, it’s fair to wonder whether the Kraken will make a move of their own to try to salvage the season. Last December, former general manager Ron Francis traded for Kaapo Kakko. That didn’t ultimately rescue the season, but it was a signal that Seattle still wanted to keep trying to compete.
One year later, the Kraken are right back in the same position. Things are spiraling quickly, and while the playoffs remain attainable, constant injuries and illnesses have exposed just how thin this roster really is.
If the Kraken don’t pull off a trade or two for forwards who can put the puck in the net, that may be a sign that they’re instead beginning the march back toward sell mode.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
